Lincolnite

One body was found in a ditch, the other in a lake. Now, they both have been identified. It is still too early in both cases to determine the circumstances surrounding the individuals' deaths.

Today's Journal Star features a nice story featuring good old fashioned mudslinging between Ken Svoboda and Chris Beutler. Nothing too exciting has been said so far, and in the end the points of contention really aren't all that contentious. I think it says a lot about this election that the candidates haven't picked on each other more, and that when they do there isn't much picking to be done.

Robert took another major developmental step last night. And by that I mean he literally took a step. Yup, at around 7:15pm last night, Robert took his first steps. And just to prove it wasn't a fluke, he repeated the feat two more times. The first time he did it he caught me off-guard. He was standing in front of me -- itself a milestone he reached only recently -- chewing on a toy. Usually he does one of two things while he is standing: he panics and sits down; or he lunges to the nearest person or couch. This time he did neither. He looked at the couch I was leaning against, took two solid steps, and on the third step he was there. It happened so fast I thought maybe I was calling "steps" what really should have been called "stumbles". Just for fun, I called up grandma and said, "Hi mom, Robbie and I need a ruling from the judge." I told her what had happened, and asked, "Did he just walk?" She said that it sure sounded like it. I wasn't quite convinced that I wasn't just exaggerating the memory in my mind. Robert must have sensed my doubt. Determined to prove himself, he took a couple more steps after I got off the phone. But these weren't very pretty steps. Certainly not as pretty as the first ones. Right before I started getting him ready for bed I gave Robert one more chance. I stood him on the floor, backed away, and knelt in front of him. Sure enough, boom boom boom, in three steps he was in my arms. And these were good steps. It was confirmed: my son can walk. Sort of. At ten months and six days he is on the early end of first-steppers, but he isn't off the bell curve or anything. (According to my mom he's got me beat by three whole months. Apparently I was quite content to drag myself around on my belly. My sister, on the other hand, took her first steps at ten months.) It seems like he has changed so much in these past six weeks. I can hardly keep up with all of his new abilities and behaviors. His first birthday is two whole months away. I can't even imagine how much different he'll be by then. Unfortunately, The Missus wasn't home for Robert's first steps. No worries, though. She doesn't have to work today, so hopefully Robert will show off his new tricks for mom. Robbie has never been the shy type, so I don't think it will be a problem.

At this moment I am listening to perhaps the most boring audio recording in the history of audio recordings. (Well, except for anything by John Cage.) It is 8 hours and 8 minutes of the sound of me sleeping. In other words, it's eight hours of not much of anything. Why would a guy record himself sleeping? The Missus claims I snore, or breathe heavy, or whistle like a teapot, or something like that. I don't necessarily doubt that's true, but sometimes I wonder if her description of the volume of my breathing is a bit ... exaggerated. A couple times she has even accused me of breathing too loud while I was awake and consciously trying not to make a peep. Sometimes I think she just needs to turn down her hearing aids. If she had hearing aids. More seriously, based on a number of factors I have wondered for years if maybe I have sleep apnea or some mild sleep disorder. An audio recording isn't exactly the best way to diagnose a sleep disorder, but I figure it's a start. So far I haven't heard anything interesting. I scanned through the recording and I didn't notice anything too obnoxious. There's a little light snoring here and there, but nothing that could make the nightstand shake. I'm going to run the file through some audio software to see if I find anything interesting. And just so this isn't the most boring thing you read all day, please go read the most boring thing ever written.

I don't think he has a pizza's chance in a room full of graduate students, but mayoral candidate Roger Yant's latest ideas are worth noting:

1. Set up police substations in the public schools and staff them with six officers. Yant would use existing officers, rather than hiring additional officers
2. Get LPD involved with initiative 287g, which would allow LPD officers to carry out immigration law functions typically handled by the feds. Yant would fire Police Chief Tom Casady if Casady did not want to get involved.
3. Move the Harold Warp Pioneer Village from Minden to Lincoln.

To me, these three proposals clearly illustrate why Roger Yant is not qualified to lead our community. In addition to being extremely expensive, the first proposal would draw police officers out of the community, and it would practically turn public schools into de facto prisons. The second proposal's merits are debatable, but Yant's propensity to threaten to fire anybody and everybody who disagrees with him is obnoxious. And the third idea is downright bizarre. Trying to increase tourism dollars in Lincoln is fine, but if you're going to propose stealing a small town's attraction, shouldn't you at least run the idea by the folks who will be affected before making it a campaign plank? I sincerely appreciate Mr. Yant's efforts, and I'm glad he is trying to bring some new ideas to the mayor's race. I just don't think he has what it takes to lead a community of nearly 250,000 people.

I'm a fan of LB571, which would allow unmarried couples to jointly adopt children. Unfortunately, the debate is probably more likely to be focused on the (perceived) perils of allowing gay couples to adopt, rather than on the benefits of placing more family-less children with loving and capable parents. I should note that I am not inherently opposed to requiring somewhat stricter rules for unmarried adoptive couples than married couples to the extent that those rules are designed to protect the adopted child, especially in the event that the couple breaks up. Let's not pretend that being married automatically makes a couple more suited for parenting than an unmarried couple, though. Generally speaking that's probably true. But the fact that an unmarried couple is willing and able to make it through the adoption process probably makes them more qualified to raise a child than a good chunk of married couples.

I don't know if he meant to, but Lincoln Police Chief Tom Casady pretty much summed up the excesses of American politics -- and really, of American life in general -- with this quote:

A luxury once tasted becomes a necessity.

Oh the roads that sort of thinking has taken us down.

My apologies for being quiet these past few days. I'm a bit swamped right now. As Linda Richman would say, please talk amongst yourselves. I'll be back soon!

Can you figure out where in Lincoln these five items can be found?

1. Woman spilling
2. Eagle watching
3. Family posing
4. Man messaging
5. Angel fishing

Feel free to chip in your own, following the same "noun verbing" pattern.

Where are the best places in Lincoln to celebrate St. Patrick's Day? And a related question: Does anybody here actually like the traditional Irish foods -- or rather, the American interpretation of traditional Irish foods -- served on St. Patrick's Day? I find Irish food to be edible but boring. Will any of you stand up for Irish cuisine?

After a looooong break over the winter -- I opted not to referee indoor soccer this year -- I'll be back in action today, centering one of the first high school soccer matches of the season. The time off was good for me. Even though physically I'm horribly out of shape now, mentally I feel very refreshed. I just checked my rules test grade. *sigh* Only 98/100. I missed one because I let my dad talk me into the wrong answer (thanks, dad!). The other dealt with a rule that I don't agree with, so I halfway answered incorrectly out of spite. On the other hand, I got all of the "mind-reading" questions right this year. Those are questions that are poorly worded and which require you to read the test-writer's mind if you want to get the right answer. It becomes a matter of "What does the test writer want me to answer?" rather than "What is the strictly correct answer?". Very annoying. Will any of you be out at Abbott tonight? I'll have the center of one of the matches, though I won't say which one just yet. Come say hi if you're out there. I should also mention the big news that I received a Nebraska women's center coming up in a couple weeks. I am very, very excited. Even though it's "just" spring ball, it's still Nebraska. Also, it's a privilege I will never have during the regular season due to my employment ties. Reffing in the shadow of Memorial Stadium will be a hoot.

As much as I dread the thought of Senator John Bruning (R.-NE), I would put money on that being the gist of his announcement today.

I have noticed that the annoyingly unforgettable Nebraska Diamond commercials are back on the radio. I hadn't heard any for a while, but now they're back with a vengeance. I have to give them credit for pounding their name into Lincolnites' skulls, but dang those commercials are annoying. And here I am giving them free advertising. I was a customer at Nebraska Diamond once. It's definitely not your typical ring-buying experience. It wasn't for me, but I can see why some guys (or couples) would prefer it. (For the record, I ended up buying at Sartor Hamann.)

The School Board voted yesterday to place automatic external defibrillators in Lincoln's high schools. I don't disagree with the decision, but I wonder how they will decide where to put them so that they are always accessible, thus fending off potential liability issues. I'm sitting here thinking about the layout of Lincoln Southeast, for example, and I can't think of any place you could put an AED that would always be accessible. Can you imagine being on the wrong side of a security gate in a medical emergency, the AED within spitting distance but unreachable?